When it comes to recreational marijuana, forget the joint! People in Colorado—both Coloradoans and tourists—are enjoying cannabis in all kinds of new ways. "Most people don't want to smoke," says Troy Dayton, CEO of The ArcView Group, a private marijuana investment and market research firm based in Colorado. "I think that the future is not going to be smoking of cannabis. It's going to be all the other things. So there's a huge, huge boom in alternative forms of ingestion."
Alternative forms include every kind of edible imaginable (candies, cookies, butters, cooking oils), vaporizer pens, concentrates, tinctures and rubs.
"People used to be afraid of edibles," says Bob Eschino, head of Incredibles, a Lakewood, Colo., marijuana chocolatier. "You would eat an edible one day, you would have a great time. You would eat the same edible from the same person the next day, and it would be way too much medication. Nobody tested anything."
Today, the law requires testing and consistency. Incredibles' product, for example, is tested for purity, potency and consistency at CannLabs in Denver. Another Denver lab, Herbal Synergy, tests product for At Home Baked, producers of cannabis-infused brownie and blondie mixes to bake at home.
Eschino reveals his dark and white chocolate magic on CNBC's new documentary, "Marijuana in America: Colorado Pot Rush." Legal recreational marijuana is revolutionizing business and society in Colorado. Catch the rush and click on for more cannabis goodies.
6 Ways To Get High Without Actually Smoking
Cannabis baked goods(01 of06)
Open Image Modal"We stink up our kitchen, so you don't have to stink up yours," says A.J. Ashkar, aka A.J. Hashman, owner of At Home Baked. Instead of selling packaged cookies or brownies, At Home Baked sells brownie, blondie and other mixes that people can bake in their own homes. Normally, says Ashkar, the activation of THC in the oven will create a smell that permeates the whole house. However, because his mix contains a packet of cooking oil infused with activated THC, Ashkar claims "the only thing you smell baking is brownies."These days in Colorado, though, baking anything with cannabis has become easier and more accurate. Most shops sell cannabutter as well as cannabis-infused cooking oil and a portion of either of these can be substituted for regular butter or oil in a recipe. Some quick math will help the chef figure out how much active THC will be in each serving. Ashkar recommends mixing the ingredients very thoroughly before baking, then cutting the finished product into equal parts. (credit: At Home Baked)
Vape pens(02 of06)
Open Image ModalVaporizer pens have become very popular with medical and recreational users. They are discrete and create very little smell. Users think they're a good alternative to joints and bongs.The cartridge, filled with hash oil, is sold separately from the pen. To begin, you charge the pen by plugging it into any USB outlet.Once the pen is charged, you can insert the cartridge and "smoke" it like an e-cigarette. As the user inhales, the hash oil is vaporized. Small lights at the bottom of the pen shine white as you inhale. They stay on for about six seconds, then start to flash to indicate that the hit is over.In this controlled way, one cartridge provides about 50 to 60 hits, and the user knows how much THC she is getting with each hit. There's a window in the vape pen so that the user can see the level of the hash oil in the cartridge, so she knows when to replace it. (credit:CNBC)
Lotions and rubs(03 of06)
Open Image ModalCannabis candy …(04 of06)
Open Image ModalThree years ago, says Incredibles' Eschino, "the edibles and concentrate market ... was about 10 percent of the business. The last study I saw ... it's closer to 40 percent of our business now."According to Brian Ruden, co-founder of the medical and recreational marijuana dispensary Starbuds, recreational edibles are all limited to 100 milligrams of active THC. It's easy to portion the candy and figure out how much THC is in each bite. And they taste, says Ruden, pretty much the way they look—like chocolate, raspberry or strawberry candy.All the more important to keep them away from the kids! Every package, says Eschino, must be child resistant. (credit:CNBC)
… Including every candy under the sun(05 of06)
Open Image ModalRecreational cannabis candy comes in every variety imaginable. These are just a few sold by Incredibles in Lakewood and Kine Mine in Idaho Springs, Colo.Unlike marijuana that's smoked, eaten cannabis products take about an hour to produce a full effect. It may be easy for a beginner to eat too much. Genifer Murray, trained in microbiology and CEO of CannLabs in Denver, suggests the beginner start with 5 milligrams of THC in an edible."You can't die from it," Murray says of overdosing, "but you can feel like you're dying." If you smoke too much, the effect subsides quickly. But if you eat too much, says Murray, the bad feelings can last for hours. She suggests that people who have problems with anxiety or paranoia might want to try edibles that have more CBD (cannabidiol) which is a non-psychotropic cannabinoid that, Murray says, "kind of curves the psychoactivity of THC." (credit:Incredibles Colorado (top left) | The Kine Mine (top right and bottom left and right))
Shatter(06 of06)
Open Image ModalCNBC and correspondent Harry Smith tell the story behind this controversial and stunning development and report on the exploding legal pot market. Watch "Marijuana in America: Colorado Pot Rush" on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 10 p.m. ET.
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